Parking tower

ABSTRACT

A parking tower includes a steel structure tower body, which has a basement layer and parking layers at different elevations above the basement layer and a vertical cab well vertically extended from the basement layer through the parking layers, each parking layer being equipped with transversely and longitudinally arranged support members, parking plates each for carrying a car individually, a cab vertically movably installed in the vertical cab well for carrying the parking plates, a parking plate dispensing unit installed in the basement layer for moving parking plates in and out of the cab; and a plurality of transfer mechanisms respectively installed in the parking layers for transferring the parking plates between the vertical cab well and the support members in each parking layer and for transferring each parking plate from the support members at one parking block to another in the respective parking layer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a parking tower for parking cars and, more particularly, to such a parking tower that enables cars to be parked densely and that enables users to park and retrieve cars rapidly.

2. Description of the Related Art

For the advantage of high mobility, most people would like to drive a car instead of using public transportation. Therefore, the number of cars is growing at a high rate in almost all cities around the world. In consequence, it is usually difficult to find a parking place in downtown areas. In order to fully utilize the limited space of land, parking towers are designed for parking cars at different stories above the ground. These parking towers commonly use a computer-controlled transfer mechanism to transfer cars from the entrance to the vacant parking blocks on different stories or to carry parked cars from their respective parking blocks on different stories to the exit. These conventional parking towers are still not satisfactory in function because they require much time to park a car or to carry a parked car to the exit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a parking tower which fully utilizes limited space for parking cars efficiently. It is another object of the present invention to provide a parking tower which enables the user to park a car and to retrieve a parked car rapidly.

To achieve these and other objects, the parking tower according to the present invention comprises a steel structure tower body, the steel structure tower body comprising a basement layer below the ground, a plurality of parking layers at different elevations above the ground, and at least one vertical cab well vertically extended from the basement layer through the parking layers, the parking layers each comprising a plurality of parking blocks, and a plurality of support members transversely and longitudinally arranged in each of the parking blocks; a plurality of parking plates each for carrying a car individually; a cab vertically movably installed in the vertical cab well for carrying the parking plates between the basement layer and the parking layers; a parking plate dispensing unit installed in the basement layer and adapted to collect the parking plates and to move the parking plates in and out of the cab; and a plurality of transfer means respectively installed in the parking layers and adapted to transfer the parking plates between the vertical cab well and the support members of each parking layer and to transfer each parking plate from the support members of one of the parking blocks to the support members of another of the parking blocks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a parking tower according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the parking tower according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of 9 blocks in every parking layer according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of the support members and the transfer mechanism in one parking block according to the present invention.

FIGS. 4A˜4N show the arrangement of the fence structure of the fence plates in one parking block according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing a car being carried on a parking plate supported on the rollers of the transfer mechanism of one parking block according to the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a side view showing the arrangement of the transfer mechanism in one parking block according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing showing a stack of parking plates carried on the carriage of the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing of the parking plate dispensing unit showing the carriage supported on the support members at the screw rods.

FIG. 8 is schematic top view of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a schematic drawing showing the design of a transmission gear train type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic drawing showing the design of a chain transmission type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic drawing showing the design of a worm and worm gear transmission type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic drawing showing another design of worm and worm gear transmission type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic drawing showing chains and hooks arranged in the parking plate dispensing unit for carrying the parking plates in and out of the carriage according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a top plain view of one parking plate according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic drawing showing one parking plate carrier arranged at one side of the parking plate dispensing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of multiple parking lots in one parking layer according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of multiple parking lots in one parking layer according to another alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of multiple parking lots in one parking layer according to still another alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a schematic drawing showing the support members of the parking blocks of one parking layer slanted at an angle.

FIG. 20 is a schematic drawing corresponding to FIG. 19 showing cars parked on parking plates with the slanted support members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a parking tower in accordance with the present invention is shown comprising a steel structure tower body 1. The steel structure tower body 1 has a basement layer 11 below the ground, and a plurality of parking layers 12 at different elevations above the ground. The parking layers 12 each are divided into 9 transversely and longitudinally aligned blocks (see FIG. 3). The center block is an opening, and a vertical cab well 13 is formed along the center blocks of the parking layers 12 and extended to the basement layer 11 for a cab 3 (this will be described further). The other 8 blocks of each parking layer 12 are parking blocks, each parking block being provided with a support table formed of transversely and longitudinally arranged support members 14 and a transfer mechanism 2 installed in the support members 14 (see FIG. 4). The transfer mechanism 2 comprises a plurality of transverse transfer rollers 21, a plurality of longitudinal transfer rollers 22, and linking devices 23 linking the transverse transfer rollers 21 and the longitudinal transfer rollers 22. As shown in FIG. 5A, each linking device 23 comprises a worm and worm gear that are driven by a motor.

The parking tower further comprises a plurality of parking plates 4 for carrying cars individually, a cab 3 movable in the vertical cab well 13, and a parking plate dispensing unit 5 adapted to receive and distribute the parking plates 4.

Referring to FIGS. 6˜8 and FIGS. 1 and 2 again, the parking plate dispensing unit 5 comprises a plurality of screw rods 51 vertically arranged in parallel corresponding to the four corners of the parking plates 4, a plurality of support members 52 respectively threaded onto the screw rods 51 and movable along the screw rods 51 upon rotation of the screw rods 51 (see FIGS. 7 and 8), a carriage 53 supported on the support members 52 and movable with the support members 52 along the screw rods 51, and a transmission mechanism 54 adapted to rotate the screw rods 51 synchronously. The transmission mechanism 54 can be a bevel gear transmission mechanism, transmission gear train (see FIG. 9), a chain transmission mechanism (see FIG. 10), or a worm and worm gear transmission mechanism (see FIGS. 11 and 12). Therefore, by means of moving the carriage 53 vertically upwards/downwards along the screw rods 51, the parking plates 4 can be arranged in a stack on the carriage 53. Further, chains 55 are arranged vertically and controlled to rotate and to move hooks 56 for lowering the parking plates 4 onto or lifting the parking plates 4 from the carriage 53 (see FIG. 13).

Referring to FIG. 14, each parking plate 4 comprises a rectangular plate body 41, a plurality of bottom rollers 42 pivotally provided at the bottom side of the plate body 41, and a plurality of peripheral rollers 43 pivotally provided around the four sides of the plate body 41.

Further, the first parking layer 12 of the steel structure tower body 1 that is closest to the ground has at least one entrance and one exit or one gate for entrance and exit. One parking plate 4 is transferred from the parking plate dispensing unit 5 to the parking block of the first parking layer 12 adjacent to the entrance by the transfer mechanism 2 of the first parking layer 12 by means of the control of a computer so that a car can be parked on the parking plate 4 on the parking block of the first parking layer 12 adjacent to the entrance. Having been loaded with a car the parking plate 4 is transferred to another parking block of the first parking layer 12, and the parking plate dispensing unit 5 is controlled to transfer another parking plate 4 to the first parking layer 12 for enabling the parking plate 4 to be further transferred to the parking block of the first parking layer 12 adjacent to the entrance. After the parking blocks of the first parking layer 12 have been fully occupied, the transfer mechanism 2 of the first parking layer 12 is controlled by the computer to transfer one parking plate 4 with the parked car to the cab 3, enabling the cab 3 to carry the parking plate 4 and the parked car to another parking layer 12 (see FIG. 2). By operating in the aforesaid manner, a car can be quickly carried to any assigned parking block in any of the parking layers 12. The transfer mechanism 2 of each parking block in every parking layer 12 further comprises a plurality of transversely extended and longitudinally extended fence plates 24 that can be moved up and down to form a fence structure around the respective parking block. FIGS. 4A˜4N show the arrangement of the fence structure of the fence plates.

When retrieving a car, it is transferred with the respective parking plate 4 from the corresponding parking block to the cab 3, then lowered with the cab 3 to the first parking layer 12, and then transferred to the parking block in the first parking layer 12 adjacent to the entrance.

Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 1 again, at least one, for example two, parking plate carriers 6 are symmetrically provided at two sides of the parking plate dispensing unit 5. Each parking plate carrier 6 comprises a carriage 63 adapted to carry a number of parking plates 4 in a stack. When the parking plate dispensing unit 5 is empty, the carriage 63 of one parking plate carrier 6 is moved with the loaded parking plates 4 sideways to the carriage 53 of the parking plate dispensing unit 5 for further dispensing.

Referring to FIGS. 16˜18, subject to the area of the land for the parking tower, each parking layer 12 may be divided into multiple parking lots each formed of 9 longitudinally and transversely aligned blocks, and a number of vertical cab wells are formed in assigned blocks of the parking lots in every parking layer 12 for a respective cab 3.

Referring to FIGS. 19 and 20, the support members 14 in each parking block of the first parking layer 12 adjacent the entrance/exit can be horizontally slanted at an angle so that a car can be moved in and out of the first parking layer 12 from the lateral side.

A prototype of parking tower has been constructed with the features of FIGS. 1˜20. The parking tower functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A parking tower comprising: a steel structure tower body, said steel structure tower body comprising a basement layer below the ground, a plurality of parking layers at different elevations above the ground, and at least one vertical cab well vertically extended from said basement layer through said parking layers, said parking layers each comprising a plurality of parking blocks, and a plurality of support members transversely and longitudinally arranged in each of said parking blocks; a plurality of parking plates each for carrying a car individually; a cab vertically movably installed in said vertical cab well for carrying said parking plates between said basement layer and said parking layers; a parking plate dispensing unit installed in said basement layer and adapted to collect said parking plates and to move said parking plates in and out of said cab; and a plurality of transfer means respectively installed in said parking layers and adapted to transfer said parking plates between said vertical cab well and the support members of each said parking layer and to transfer each said parking plate from the support members of one of said parking blocks to the support members of another of said parking blocks.
 2. The parking tower as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said parking layer is divided into at least one parking lot, each said parking lot comprising 9 transversely and longitudinally aligned blocks, said 9 transversely and longitudinally aligned blocks including a center block that forms a part of one said vertical cab well and 8 parking blocks surrounding said center block.
 3. The parking tower as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said transfer means comprises a plurality of transversely extended transfer rollers and longitudinally extended transfer rollers, and linking means linking said transversely extended transfer rollers and longitudinally extended transfer rollers for synchronous rotation.
 4. The parking tower as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said parking plate comprises a rectangular plate body, a plurality of bottom rollers pivotally provided at a bottom side of said plate body, and a plurality of peripheral rollers pivotally provided around four sides of said plate body.
 5. The parking tower as claimed in claim 1, wherein said parking plate dispensing unit comprises a plurality of screw rods vertically arranged in parallel, a plurality of support members respectively threaded onto said screw rods and movable along said screw rods upon rotation of said screw rods, and a carriage supported on the support members of said parking plate dispensing unit and movable with the support members of said parking plate dispensing unit along said screw rods, and a transmission mechanism adapted to rotate said screw rods synchronously.
 6. The parking tower as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one parking plate carrier set in said basement layer at one side of said parking plate dispensing unit and horizontally movable in and out of said parking plate dispensing unit for collecting said parking plates in a stack and carrying the collected parking plates to the carriage of said parking plate dispensing unit when said parking plate dispensing unit is empty. 